A channel-based and/or object-based audio codec typically allows for the encoding and the decoding of a multi-channel audio signal which comprises a plurality of channels each comprising a different audio signal. One possibility for increasing the coding gain for encoding a multi-channel signal is to exploit dependencies among channels by means of inter-channel coding. A technical problem addressed is how to provide a computationally efficient scheme for performing inter-channel coding having high coding gain, notably in the context of lossless coding. The scheme improves coding efficiency notably subject to a lossless coding constraint which requires that all the encoder side operations must be invertible on the decoder side in a bit exact manner.